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In Searching for Craft, all the craftsmen, such as the old man, Kanwen, who is making oil-paper umbrella in Yunnan, Tursunjan, Zunon, who is making Xinjiang pottery, the artist Hudabaid who is making and playing Balaman flutes and so on, have spent decades on a single traditional craft and even devoted their whole life to it.

Sometimes they can even do it without watching because the whole process is so familiar to them that it has already become a kind of muscle memory. Thinking from another aspect, the value of traditional craft should include the value of time as well as the cultural value recognized by the public. Every master, including myself, has spent the whole lifetime practicing, devoting a lot of time to practice and experiment in private regardless of the cost of material and energy. So for every master who studies crafts, the value created by time cannot be simply measured by money.

Sometimes, people would easily offer a price they think is reasonable for the works of craftsmen, they would say something like: I think this one should be worth that much money or something cheaper can be found on some online stores. However, what is not priced by its creator is not reasonable: I believe that the value of any handicraft should be defined by the creator himself. As for the creator, the time and mind spent, the story or original emotion is given to the work (this may be more important), are the reasons why it is always difficult for a craftsman to price his work. They are created by the coordination of our hands, hearts and brains, working together to make unique works with the temperature of hands, the sensibility of heart and the wisdom of brain (under different cultural backgrounds and by different people). As for many of my own works, the reason why I am not willing to sell them is not only that they are handmade by me, but also that they contain my certain spirit, my understanding of a certain culture, or a certain concept.

The price marked by the craftsman on his work should be respected. You can choose to buy or not, that depends on whether you think it is worthy because there is never a unified measurement for the craft. For example, in the UK, a young designer receives a task of jewelry customization. It may take him a week or even half a month to finish the product, and the labor cost in the UK is very expensive on an hourly or daily basis, which will bring him a very considerable income. For skilled masters in China, the task can be finished efficiently and with high quality in a day or two or even one or two hours, which may cost the customer less than one-tenth of that of the foreign designer (despite different national situations, this is only for discussing the big difference in the value of handicrafts between the East and the West). I've also thought about whether the value of craft can be calculated by day, but it's not realistic. Some people are very skilful and some are less skilled; some people make little progress in designing works while some make great ones, but all these could not be told apart by non-professionals. Naturally, they would not figure out why crafts that look so similar in China are priced so differently. There is no measurement for them but to let the creator decide the prices for their works as long as they are doing this with a clear conscience. The buyers can choose to buy or not according to their own judges. But in reality, most people just cannot get this simple fact.

Research 2 (extended)

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